FORMER Charlton boss Dean Holden believes successor Michael Appleton has a “brilliant opportunity” to do well at The Valley.
Holden lasted just eight months in the hotseat before his dismissal in late August following a slow start to the current season.
Appleton was the man given the nod to take over the reins in SE7 and his predecessor feels he has every chance to succeed following the summer takeover of the club.
Holden told coachesvoice.com: “Peter Storrie came in as chief executive in February.
“He was brilliant to me, and very good at communicating with the fans.
“When the new owners came in, we were working under a two-year remit to get out of League One – ideally in the first year – and playing younger players developed from within a great academy.
“The owners didn’t want to go up and then come down with an experienced team.
“My successor Michael Appleton has a brilliant opportunity there.
“We did so much work in the community, as a club, to engage the supporters. They were all-in.
“The messages of support I’ve had from Charlton fans have been absolutely phenomenal.
“It means a lot to me and my family, to my young kids, it genuinely does.”
Holden also spoke about the situation he encountered upon his appointment just before Christmas last year at a club in disarray on and off the field.
He explained: “When I took over at Charlton, before we started on any tactics it was about bringing people together.
“When you take over a struggling team, there will be players who have been discarded, staff members who have lost a bit of love for the job because they’ve not been involved, stuff like that.
“I was genuine. I’m not someone who hides away, Mr Important with a PA bringing me a cup of tea. I get out and get my hands dirty.”
Holden added: “I think that got a little bit of respect and, all of a sudden, there was a buzz about the place.
“We went from 18th to 10th. The team had been playing heavily possession-based football, but it was difficult to play out from the back as much as I would have liked.”
That was largely down to poor maintenance of The Valley for several years under various previous owners which was finally beginning to catch up with the club, something which led to the new boss changing his short-term tactics.
Holden said: “Confidence was low and the pitch at The Valley was really poor.
“When they pulled the covers off before a game against Bristol Rovers, part of the pitch even ripped off.
“The groundsman said it never recovered for the second half of the season.
“So we took a little bit of the risk away from playing out from the back.
“We had so much speed in that top area of the pitch and really good creative midfielders: Scott Fraser, George Dobson, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Tyreece Campbell, Miles Leaburn – one of the best young players in the country – and Rak-Sakyi.
“It was about getting our better players on the ball at that end of the pitch.”
Holden knew he had to make an instant impact in the dressing room and wasn’t afraid to duck some big calls.
He said: “In my first game in charge, I dropped the captain Jayden Stockley, and gave the armband to Dobson.
“I also played 18-year-old Daniel Kanu up front.
“Kanu is rapid and wants to run in behind, and he got the assist for our goal that day.
“I played young players because I felt they deserved to play, would excite and get us out of the trouble we were in.
“We moved on four senior players in January, which lowered the wage bill, and over the summer we tried to reshape the squad. Five loans had all gone back, including Rak-Sakyi.”
He added: “We also had the new ownership being sorted through the summer, which made it more difficult.
“We won the first game of the new season, then lost key players to injury, including Fraser, the best number 10 in the division, and Campbell.
“Leaburn was injured in pre-season. We lost the next four games by the odd goal.
“There were two letters from the FA apologising for not giving penalties that should have been given.
“That is not an excuse – it is just life as a manager.”
